Vladimir Putin is the “only defender of Christian civilization one can trust”

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

Syrian President Bashar Assad considers Russia’s Vladimir Putin as the "only defender of Christian civilization one can trust.”

"When I look at the present state of things in the world I realize that Vladimir Putin is the sole defender of Christian civilization one can rely on,” Assad said in an interview with French magazineValeurs Actuelles.

The Syrian leader also said that he would step down only if asked to by the Syrian people and the Syrian parliament, adding that the issue of his possible resignation had not yet been raised on an international level.

Syria will only share intelligence information with France if Paris changes its policies in the region, President Assad said. "If the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism,” he noted in the interview carried out the day after Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris.

"You have to first change policy so that it is based on one criteria, to be part of an alliance that joins countries only fighting terrorism and not supporting them,” Assad added.